Entry requirements

To quality for a 30 credits degree project, applicants:

- must be admitted to the Master's Programme in International Health (see study plan for prerequisites to the programme); and

- must have satisfactorily completed the compulsory and chosen elective courses.

Learning outcomes

The goal of the course is that the students will learn form practical experience how to design and carry out research projects in health and will gain the knowledge and skills needed for entrance into research training within the field of international health.

The specific aims of the course are that the project students will acquire:

- Capacity to plan and design health research projects independently;

- Knowledge and experience regarding a variety of research methods appropriate to international health;

- Competence in implementing research projects, including doing field work and collecting data;

- Skills in analysing and evaluating research results and write a scientific article;

- Capacity to carry out health research projects under conditions of limited resources, such as in low- or middle-income countries or in humanitarian crises situations; and

- Knowledge and sensitivity needed to do such research successfully in other countries and in transcultural situations.

Content

The course consists of 30 ECTS credits in the form of an individual degree project. The student, under the guidance of a degree project advisor, identifies and reads relevant literature, designs the research project, and selects appropriate methods. As in other courses within the Master's programme, students learn and practice advanced academic skills. In particular, they develop further their ability to find and store information from printed and electronic sources, become more competent at analysis, critique, and argumentation, and strengthen their capacity to write and communicate verbally.

Every project plan must be cleared by the advisors, the project committee of the Master's programme, and the research ethics committee before the research is begun.

In most cases, the project involves data collection in the field. Exceptions can be made, for example in studies aimed at analysis of policy documents, but literature review studies are not accepted.

Degree projects in international health are expected to focus on a health issue in a low- or middle-income country, in a humanitarian crisis, or in a marginalised population. Most are carried out within those topical areas that are available for specialised study in the theoretical courses of the Master's Programme in International Health. The specialisation areas are selected from fields in which the Department of Women's and Children's Health has research programmes under way or being developed. Alternatives for the specialisation study include public health in humanitarian assistance, international nutrition, and sexual and reproductive health. Project work may be done on other topics if qualified researchers are available to guide the study.

The completed work must be presented in a written Master's report of such a quality that it can be published as a scientific article in a peer reviewed journal. The work is also communicated at a seminar.

Instruction

The course can be arranged on a full-time or part-time basis. The learning process is based on assigned readings, seminars, the execution of an independent degree project, and the presentation of that project in written form and verbal form. Some of the work can be done through correspondence ('distance learning').

Assessment

The work is presented at a seminar and another student or a researcher will be assigned to serve as the opponent. The degree project work, as reported in the written report and the seminar, is evaluated by the studen's advisors, who convey their recommendation about the grade to the examiner, who makes the final decision.